luni, 16 iunie 2014

Is Modern Democracy a Fake Coin ?: Why Reinventing Democracy a Dire Need of Our Age? A BOOK BY PALAKUDY The word 'democracy' gives out vibrant images of an open, transparent, free world of equal men. But is the bottom substance and spirit of modern democracy truthful to these images ? A close look reveals that modern democracy is a fake coin, that has nothing to do with the above noble images.

There are many places to get ancient imperial coins.

Sources include uncleaned countries like Vietname that mint the best ROMAN AND CELTIC coins, THEY MINT BETTER SILVER DOLLARS THAN THE CHINESE OR THE PUERTO RIQUEÑOS oldcollections OF FORGERIES ARE NOW AT SALE IN MANY COUNTRY CLUBS , and auctions. Most likely you have coins that you obtained from anuncleaned lot (or that someone before you got from an uncleaned lot). Knowingwhere this coin came from can be a huge help (especially if the coin is Greekor Roman Provincial, covered in another guide). For Roman Imperial coins, suchinformation can help narrow down the mint mainly, but can sometimes help with identificationof the emperor. While we are on the subject of uncleaned coins, I would like toextend the advice to clean your coins well enough so that you can see alllegends and images on the coin, but be careful not to overclean them.

Step 2: Identifying the Denomination

Below are the denominations possible in ancient coins, and tips to identifying whichyou have. Gold coins have been excluded because, chances are if you have agenuine gold Roman coin you won’t need to read this guide.

Silver:

1. Denarius:These will be silver (white metal) and range in size from about 18-19mm, butsome may be smaller to a slight degree. The emperor’s image on these coins willalways be laureate (no “spikes” in the hair, just leafy devices in a line thatextend from behind the ears to the top of the head).

2. Quinarius:These are nearly the same as denarii, except they are smaller, about 14-15mm.These are much rarer than denarii.

3. SilverAntoninianus (or Silvered):In the case of emperors, the portrait is alwaysradiate (with a spiked crown). Empresses can sometimes have a crescent undertheir busts, but will not have a radiate crown. These generally range in sizefrom 20mm to 25mm, but they vary greatly.

4. Siliqua& Milianrense: These don’t come by often. These were only struck during thelate Roman empire. Generally these have clips on the edge, and are thinner andsmaller than denarii or antoninianii.

Bronze (or Copper):

1. As:(Plural Asses), were the base unit in the Roman monetary system. These willrange in size from 25-28mm for early Roman specimens and sometimes smaller forSeveran era Asses. These will have laureate busts.

2. Sestertius:This is a large denomination generally measuring from 35-30mm (early Roman) to25mm for Severan Era. These will be distinguishable from Asses by their sheersize and weight. These will also have laureate busts.

3. Dupondius:This is like the As, but the metal is made of brass instead of bronze. Brass isa yellow metal and is commonly confused by newbies as gold. However, it iseasier to just look at the bust as they will will feature a radiate bust. Theserange in size from about 27-28mm in size

4. Quadrans:The smallest early Roman denomination. These are usually only 15-16mm indiameter. A common device on these is the “SC” mark.

5. Semis:This is like the quadrans, but is slightly larger (usually 18-20mm). They arestill smaller than the As. It can be hard to distinguish the difference.

6. BronzeAntoninianus: The bronze version of the Silver coin listed above. Same sizes,but are highly variable. These always have radiate crowns on the bust.

7. Follis:These replaced the As and began to be minted during the Tetrarchy. These aregenerally 25-27mm, but will generally be thinner than Asses. Also, the reversetype is commonly that of Genius (the Roman god).

The Following are late Roman Bronze Denominationsonly:

8. AE1:A large later Roman denomination about 25-28mm. These are scarce. Most mintedby Julian II and Jovian (with a bull reverse or the emperor standing with globeand labarum)

9. AE2:A medium late Roman denomination about 21-24mm. These come around from time totime, but aren’t scarce as scarce as AE1, but are scarcer than AE3 by far.

10. Centenionalis:This is about the same size as the AE2, but was only minted during the reign ofthe sons of Constantine I (Constantius II, Constans, Constantine II).

11. AE3:A common denomination about 15-20mm

12. AE4:Some debate the size limits here. I have seen some “AE4” designated coins atabout 16mm or larger. Generally though, an AE4 is only 11-15mm.

13. AE5:These are tiny coins measuring anywhere from 5mm to 10mm. These were minted onlyduring the very late Roman Empire (usually 5th century).

Step 3: Identifying the emperor

This is the second hardest thing to do when identifying Roman coins. Novice coincollectors will want to study coins from all of the emperors to get a feel forwhat each emperor is depicted like. For instance, Nero has characteristicfacial features that no other emperor has. Early Roman coins were engraved toaccurately reflect the emperor on the coin, but starting at about the Tetrarchythere was a general trend to use the same “template” for each of the emperors.When it remains unclear even after studying the bust, then you must attempt toread the legends. With Roman coins, the emperor’s name is on the obverse.However, the tricky part is that some emperors were not known by the names thatwe know them today, and sometimes there is more than one emperor with the samename. Here are a few tips to help:

1. Look at the denomination. Asses, Dupondii, Sestertii, quadrans, Semises, and denariiwere only minted in the first ~300 years of the Roman empire. Antoninianii wereonly minted after Caracalla up until the tetrarchy. AE1-AE5 were only minted inlate Rome. This can help when you are attempting to identify Claudius I or II(one is early, the other is later Roman), for example.

2. Early Roman coins included many of the emperors titles that late Roman coins did not.Some examples include: TR P, COS, and Roman numerals (I, V, X, Etc). Late Romancoins include the DN (usually at the beginning of the legends), which earlyRoman coins did not.

3. Caesars (those promised to be given the title of Augustus) will almost never bare adiadem (this was reserved for the Augustus, aka the emperor). The legends mayalso include “CAES” “CAESAR” “NOBIL” “NOB” “IVN” “FL” “CL” and combinations andabbreviations of these.

4. Late Roman legends always begin from the left and extend around the coin in aclockwise fashion. Early Roman coins can go either direction, but in general theywere struck in the clockwise fashion as well.

Step 4: Identifying the Reverse

This is usually the most challenging step. I have seen many reverse types over andover again and I can usually guess the legends of some, and can usuallydetermine the imagery as well. However, this is due to years of experience.Here are some tips to identifying the reverses:

1. If there is a figure holding something, try to identify what they are holding.This is the key to determining the god or goddess that is being represented.For instance, a victory is almost always shown holding a wreath and palm frond.

2. SC is a common reverse type for Early Roman coins, but is never found on lateRoman coins. The SC stands for Senatus Consulto.

3. Late Roman coins tended to recycle the same reverse types across many emperors,including a Roman soldier spearing a fallen horse rider (called a “FEL TEMP”because of the legends “FEL TEMP REPARATIO”), two soldiers standing to thesides of a standard(s). Another common theme prevailing only after ConstantineI The Great is the Chi-Rho Christogram.

4. Just like the obverses, the reverse of Early Roman coins will have titles that thelate Roman coins will not have (usually the same titles listed for the obverses).

5. Purchase a book or study online the various gods of goddesses of Rome. There is reallyno easy way of doing this, and only practice will aid in improving this. A goodbook for this is “The Handbook of RomanImperial Coins” by David Van Meter.

6. Roman Imperial coins NEVER have Greek characterswithin the legends around the edge of the coin. There may be some in the fields(called officina marks), as well as in the exergue (more on this later). Ifyour coin contains Greek legends around the edge, it is either a barbarousimitation (coins minted unofficially by people outside, generally on thefringes, of the Roman Empire), OR you have a Roman Provincial coin.

Step5: Identifying the Mint

Nearly all Early Roman coins were minted in Rome. There are some exceptions, butwithout hoarde data and minute style differences, you will never know thedifference between a Sestertius minted in Rome and one minted in Lugdunum(France). Unless you have an extensive library of books on Roman coins, you won’tbe able to find this information. Late Roman coins, though, were privy tomintage marks. These mintage marks are almost always found in what is called theexergue. This is the line near the bottom of the coin. Above this is theimagery of the reverse, below it is the mintmark. There are many mints thatwere open at varying times throughout late Rome, and again studying referencesand practice is the only way to get better at this. Here are some tips onidentifying the mint:

1. A common adage to the beginning of the mintmark is the “SM” prefix (which isusually present on Late Roman coins, but not always). Following this is usuallythe mint label itself. Some common ones include “K”, which is that of Cyzicus, “TS”which is that of Thessalonica, “N” which is that of Nicomedia, and probably themost common of all mintmarks (with or without the “SM” prefix) is “SIS”, whichis Siscia. Following the mint itself is usually the officina letter (generallyin numerical or alphabetical order). Officina letters/numbers can be either inRoman or Greek. Occasionally the officina mark is located before the mint labelas a prefix.

2. Knowing the location where your coin came from can help a lot. Listed above are commonmintmarks from coins found in and around Bulgaria and Turkey, the most commonsources of coins.

3. There are two mints which get confused all the time. These are Constantinople andArles. Usually the novice will assume that the “CONS” exergue is alwaysConstantinople, but it is not. Arles had an extensive mintage with this exergueas well (particularly on the “GLORIA EXERCITVS Soldiers and standards” reversetype). Generally, if the mintmark reads “CONST” it is Arles, and if “CONS” itis Constantinople. But remember that Arles also minted coins with ARL in themintmark.

4. Purchase a book which lists these mintmarks and their associated mints. I recommend “The Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins” byDavid Van Meter (located on page 9). I recommend this book to all novices and Irefer to it myself now and again.

5. Roman coins were struck by hand, and thus imperfectly. Sometimes the mintmark is offof the flan (either most or all of the way). In this circumstance it is usuallyimpossible to identify the mint.

Part 6: Dating Roman Coins

Once you know the emperor, you can always get an approximate date of when the coinwas minted. Exact minting dates can only be found with extensive numismaticliterature (more about that in the next section).

Roman Imperial Coins are coins that were minted from the initiation of Augustus as emperor (formally Octavian) in 27BC until the reforms of Anastasius (the first Byzantine Emperor) in 498AD. These coins are always in Latin and almost always bare a portrait of the current Emperor (sometimes posthumously) or an Empress or Caesar on the obverse. Reverse type varieties are far too numerous to name here, but include Roman deities, monuments, various scenes etc... Most earlier Roman Imperial coins were struck at the Mint of Rome, with later coins being minted all over the empire and usually bare a mintmark or other symbol noting where it came from. Denominations were usually not marked in words- but are obvious when looking at the size and weight of the coin, as well as the imagery sometimes (Radiate busts of Antoninanii for example). For more information on Roman Imperial Coins, please read myebay Guide

Despre mine

a good pope pet, and
potential corpse's.
making time for the killing.
I believe in Enlightenment values such as Individual Liberty, critical thought, honest and open dialogue; and stand opposed to political intimidation, political correctness-bullying, the shame tactics of the equality industry and all forms of social engineering.Géanna gealgháireacha.
Is man God's mistake or is God man's mistake